Parking move hits sour note with Falkirk choir

Comely Park Primary will now lock their gates outwith school hours, forcing Caledonia Choir to move

Kirsty Beaton

A parking ban has been imposed on school grounds, forcing a community group to move home after 20 years.

Caledonia Choir has met at Comely Park Primary for the past two decades but is now moving to new premises.

Playground gates will be locked outwith school hours, meaning groups using the school at night will not be able to park there.

Falkirk Council is remaining tight-lipped about its reasons.

Recently The Falkirk Herald highlighted parents’ concerns about a neighbouring car showroom’s use of school grounds

Mary McCann, president of Caledonia Choir, said: “I’ve been a choir member for over 20 years and we’ve always met there. Some members are elderly and have difficulty walking so need a hall with parking nearby. The school hasn’t told us why it’s banning cars, we heard it was to stop a garage using the ground. It’s a shame, but we understand if there were safety concerns.”

Mary said it would not be fair to users of the nearby sports centre if choir members, there’s around 70 of them, were to take over its car parking spaces. From August the group will meet at St Andrew’s Primary.

Mairi Summers of Comely Park’s parent teacher association welcomed the ban. She said: “We support this 100 per cent. I realise it’s inconvenient for other users but the safety of the pupils is paramount.”

Falkirk Council declined to comment on the move but admitted sending a lawyers letter to the adjacent Formula One Car Sales regarding their use of the car park.

Acting director of education Gary Greenhorn said: “Our solicitors have written to the garage in response to complaints received via the school.”

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Formula One Car Sales manager Paul Cowan said the parking ban is nothing to do with them.

Mr Cowan said they did occasionally use the playground when moving vehicles around, but only when the school was closed.

He added that following a chat with the school, he no longer uses the playground and will never cross the gates again.

Mr Cowan said the solicitors letter he received was unneccessary and all the school had to do was ask him not to use the ground.